Presently, consumers utilize the Internet to perform many different tasks that were conventionally done in person. Consumers can utilize the Internet to purchase products, perform personal transaction, and manage funds. During these tasks, consumers may be required to enter sensitive personal information. In order to protect personal information during these transactions, different types of security protocols are utilized such as secure socket layer (SSL). SSL is a network protocol for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data—a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the data.
When establishing a connection to an SSL website, the consumer is typically given a warning or popup. Further, the web browser displays other indictors such as an open or closed lock and different colors in the address bar. Additionally, the web browser displays the originating address of the website. However, the web browser does not display the true destination of information submitted to the secure website. Additionally, if an address is displayed, the web browser usually truncates the complete originating address. As such, the consumer never fully knows the destination of any information submitted in the SSL website. If the consumer does not know the true destination, the consumer may submit sensitive information to an invalid or false website.
Known web browsers may provide a warning to the user that they are about to submit information to a non-SSL website or that the destination is not the same as the origin of the web page. However, these warnings are only displayed after the user has selected “submit” and will often ignore these warnings. In these instances, the user's information is then in jeopardy and may be stolen.